Washington DC Media Law Lawyers

Key Wins By OAG Save The District Millions of Dollars

Washington, DC - Robert J. Spagnoletti, the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, announced today that his Office has successfully defended several cases recently that have saved the District millions of dollars.

In the federal employment case of Clay v. District of Columbia, et al. (No. 03-466 (SBC)), the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted the District's Motion for Summary Judgment. (The Illinois court was assigned to handle certain matters for the U.S. District Court. In Clay, the plaintiff alleged that his termination from his high-ranking position at the Public Services Commission constituted a wrongful discharge, and that his due process rights under the Fifth Amendment were violated when his position was converted from Career Service to Management Supervisory Service. The plaintiff had demanded $1.5 million dollars in damages. The court ruled in favor of the District on all counts.

Also, there was outstanding defense work by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) in Montgomery v. District of Columbia. The Plaintiff sued the District for $1.5 million dollars, claiming false arrest, assault and battery and defamation. The suit arose after the plaintiff was arrested for attempted distribution of cocaine. The Court granted the District's motion to dismiss the case.

After more than three years of litigation, the District won in the matter of Juvenalis v. District of Columbia, et al. (C.A. No. 01-5050). The plaintiff sought millions in his complaint and demanded $700,000 to settle this case, alleging that a police van and two other vehicles ran him down on the night of July 13, 1998. After a four day trial, the jury returned a verdict for the District.

Finally, in Ritchie v. District of Columbia, (02-0440 (PLF), the District won this case brought under the Title VII and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act by a Metropolitan Police Department Officer who claimed discrimination because of her pregnancy. At the close of the plaintiff's case, the Court found that as a matter of a law, the plaintiff had not suffered an adverse action because her supervisor had not come to a final decision regarding her work schedule before she left on stress leave. The plaintiff is this matter sought $2 million dollars from the District.

Attorney General Spagnoletti commends the outstanding efforts of the attorneys in the OAG's General Litigation Division.

All of the above cases are subject to appeal.

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